Kaelyn & Tommy | Our Story Part 2: Dating & Engagement

The summer after our freshman year, we spent apart. I was a counselor at the Wilds of New England and Kaelyn was going to work at Camp Chetek in Wisconsin. After having some health issues, she ended up going home, but we still didn’t get to see each other that summer. We Facetimed and talked on the phone as often as we could, fanning the flame. 

Top Photo: 2012 MBU Graduation our freshman year (her choir sang, my sister graduated)

Middle Photos: Summer 2012 as a counselor at The Wilds of New England

Bottom Photo: Summer 2012 Kaelyn with her sister, while home for the summer

When we got back to school in the Fall, I wanted to ask her to officially be my girlfriend. Before I could do that, I needed to talk with her dad. I know, normal people only ask a dad for permission to marry his daughter, but it was a thing then, trust me. As much as I wanted to ask him in person, I couldn’t figure out how to talk to him alone without her getting suspicious. Somehow, I was able to get his number and called him. I think the call lasted 2 minutes. He was way too easy on me. (Asking him to marry her may have only been 3 minutes, no dowry convo or anything.)

When it came time to ask her to be my girlfriend, I wanted to include some of her favorite things. I knew she loved jewelry, so I bought her a necklace & bracelet to give her right before I asked her, as well as a picture frame for her to put the picture we would take that night. At MBU, we couldn’t go off campus alone for a date, so we got good at double dating. Our friends, Brittany & Aaron, were one of our favorite couples to double date with, so they were the natural choice to join us that night. 

It was the 15th of September, a perfect clean-cut, easy to remember date, which is exactly why I chose it. We drove up to Milwaukee and hung out by a river walk near the Milwaukee Art Museum. Then, Brittany & Aaron fell back as we went for a walk. There was this cool bridge that I had scouted out as a good place to ask her. When we got to the top of the bridge, I gave her the gift and asked her to be my girlfriend. Once again, she said yes and my heart exploded! How could I be so lucky!?

One of the things I learned about Kaelyn is that she loves surprises. Another thing that I learned, is that she is blissfully unaware when I’m trying to surprise her. It’s a pretty convenient combination if you ask me. 

It was the summer of 2014. She had joined me in New Hampshire so we could both work at The Wilds of New England. We had a great summer, although we didn’t see each other a lot during the week. She was a counselor and I was the videographer, so our schedules were pretty different. We had been ring shopping together before, so she was hoping that I would propose sometime during the summer. Honestly, I got the ring before she came for camp. I wanted to ask her right away so she wouldn’t have as much time to figure it out, but God had other plans. Some other events in our family made it necessary for me to wait a bit. 

I spy a little extra sparkle in one of the photos above. Can you find it?

Kaelyn is so sweet. She did her best to be patient and never complained to me. I did hear afterwards that the morning of the day I proposed, she was talking to one of her friends about how she was struggling to be patient because she really wanted to be engaged. Her friend teased her the next week that it must’ve been super hard to wait a few hours. 

We were busy on the campsite during the week, but did have the weekend off to spend together. That didn’t give me any time to scout out a location in person without her. I had been to the public docks in Meredith, NH along Lake Winnipesaukee and thought it would be a perfect spot. I did as much google maps stalking as I could and then had my parents Facetime me from the spot during the week as a virtual stake out. 

I had decided I didn’t want to tell Kaelyn I loved her until we got engaged. I wanted to be certain that I was going to marry her and she wanted to marry me before I said it. There was no Biblical reason or anything. I’m just weird. Looking back, it wouldn’t have been a big deal to tell her earlier. I just wasn’t sure when the right time would be. 

Anyways, she knew I wasn’t going to tell her until we got engaged so once I said I love you, I knew she’d be greasing up her ring finger. In order to give her the biggest surprise, I had written the words I love you on the bottom of three rubber ducky animals (one was a giraffe since that’s her favorite animal) and put them in a pail of water. My parents were able to get up there earlier and put the pail by a bench facing the lake. They also hid the ring box in a bag under the bench and stayed close to keep an eye on it. (They were the real MVPs!) They hid it for me on site, becuase I didn’t think I would be able to hide the ring box in my pocket without her noticing. Surprising her was the goal.

At the beginning of the summer, Kaelyn and I had talked about going on a few intentional dates. This was 1) something I knew we would both love and 2) an excuse to encourage her to dress up a tiny bit without coming out and telling her what we were doing. In previous conversations about getting engaged, she had told me that if at all posible she wanted some kind of heads up so she wasn’t dressed like a vagabond. Well, she didn’t use those exact words, but I digress.

It was July 12th, and we were up at my family’s campsite in Alton Bay. They all made excuses to go off and do different things. Of course, I understood that they were heading out to set up and get hidden. I asked Kaelyn if she’d like to go on a special date like we had talked about. She perked right up but remained totally oblivious to my plans. (insert evil laugh) I went and changed into an outfit I had bought special for the occasion- a blue & red gingham button down shirt and white shorts. I thought if I dressed up a bit, that would be another subtle hint for her to do the same. She took the hint and changed into a pair of jeans and a nice gray tank with an elephant on it. I’ll never forget it. She looked adorable, per usual.

We had a great time chatting as we drove along the lake. When we pulled into the parking lot at the docks, she was all giddy. My girl loves her some quality time. So she talked my ear off about all the things as we walked closer to the bench by the water. Still, totally oblivious. In contrast, my game face was on as I scanned the path for our spot. My parents & brother had everything set and were hiding nearby to get a video. Our sweet friend, Emma, was also hiding nearby to take some photos for us. 

We passed the bench to give Kaelyn the chance to finish her thought before I blew her mind. This made my parents panic for a minute, but it was fine. It was all under control. After circling back, we sat down on the bench looking out at the lake. It was the perfect day and she was the perfect girl.

I told her I had written her a little song that I wanted to sing for her. After doing so, I fished out the three little duckies and handed them to her. Before she read the message I wrote under them, I asked her to close her eyes. While her eyes were closed, I grabbed the ring and got down on one knee. When she opened her eyes, she read the words, I love you written on the bottom sides of the duckies. Then, I told her how much I loved her and asked her to marry me. She said yes!! We could hardly contain our excitement! She cried and I beamed! What an amazing memory!

Unlike a typical proposal, we actually didn’t kiss after we got engaged. Not because we didn’t want to or even that we hadn’t before. Earlier that summer, Kaelyn came down with mono. Our camp director teased us that if I got it, too, everyone would know we hadn’t been behaving ourselves. So, we waited until she was no longer contagious. Don’t worry, we made up for it when the time was right. Sorry, mom! 

After I popped the question, we took a moment to thank God for bringing us together, which was the signal to Emma that she could come out of hiding and take a couple more photos for us! Those photos are so full of the joy we felt in that exact moment! There were so many exciting moments to look forward to now as a couple! My parents and brother also came out of hiding to congratulate us.

Across the street there is a gorgeous little waterfall where we took a couple more photos before saying bye to everyone else. There was also a quaint restaurant where we could eat outside while listening to the gentle roar of the waterfall. So that’s exactly what we did. It was so fun to be alone reflecting on all the details of the day and the events leading up to it. A sweet couple next to us overheard that we just got engaged and even paid for our dinner! What a blessing! After we finished eating, we headed back to the dock to call Kaelyn’s family and let them in on our news. Finally, we leisurely strolled along the lake for a while, filling the air with the sounds of our gleeful laughter. 

Top 3 photos by Emma Catherine Photography

Kaelyn & Tommy | Our Story Part 1: How We Met & Our 1st Date

How We Met

This part of our story is fun because we don’t completely agree on all the details. Since, I’m the one writing it down, you get to hear my version.  

During our freshmen year at Maranatha Baptist University, I remember seeing Kaelyn around campus before we actually met. I didn’t know anything about her. All I knew was that she was absolutely gorgeous. Like, literally, the most perfect woman I had ever seen in my life. Unfortunately for me, I was not the only one who thought this. There were plenty of guys on campus that had their eyes on her, too. 

I didn’t think I had the slightest chance with her. She was a model and I was just a lanky nerd. My initial thought after seeing her was that she must be much older than me- maybe a Junior? Kaelyn is 5’10”, so super tall for a girl. Something about her height and how beautiful she was made me think she must be older. I also had another terribly cynical thought- if she’s that pretty, there’s no way she’s godly, too. Wow, obviously, I had a very immature view of God. (And maybe an unhealthy spiritual ego.) One way or another, God would “learn me.”

At MBU, when we went to eat at Dining Commons (DC), we put our ID card down at a table to save seats before getting our food. One day at lunch, I followed one of my soccer friends into the DC and he put his ID card down at the table and I saw Kaelyn’s ID card sitting there, too. I took this opportunity to put my ID card right next to her. Truthfully, I wasn’t best buds with this guy, but I wanted to meet Kaelyn, so it was a good enough excuse to squeeze myself in there.

When Kaelyn sat down next to me, I went into full-blown crazy person mode and she was actually laughing! What?? Good sign numero uno! But I still was going to have to fight off all those other guys who were vying for her affections. My plan was to play it cool and focus on being a good friend to her.

I remember there were lots of guys in her friend group who were not my biggest fans. I wondered if maybe they felt a bit threatened by me since Kaelyn and I were getting close. Let it be known, Kaelyn’s best friend was dating a football player at the time, so this friend group included a lot of football players. When I would hang out with Kaelyn and her friends, it was obvious that I was the odd man out. All these bulky football jocks, and me, the skinny soccer player. It was a bit intimidating, but she was worth it. I didn’t know if she liked me, but I did know we had fun together. I counted that as a win. 

Kaelyn and I would message each other on FB in the evenings and hang out from time to time, but we didn’t run into each other a ton. I was a business major; she was an education major, so we didn’t have a lot of overlap in classes. 

Towards the end of the Fall semester, the universities choirs would all put on a combined choir concert of Handel’s Messiah. My friends and I were talking to Kaelyn and her friends after the concert and asked them if they’d like to go bowling with us, and she said yes! We actually have pictures of this “group date,” which is so fun to look back on now! 

We had a blast!! I was super into her, but I had no idea what she was thinking, so I continued to play it cool- on the outside. On the inside, I was losing my mind, because I was so crazy about this girl!

As a result of the bowling group date, Kaelyn offered me her number. That’s right, your boy had so much game that I didn’t even have to ask for her number. She offered it, willingly. I guess I should’ve gathered that maybe she liked me too at this point. But she still had a lot of options, so I wasn’t sure.

Over our Christmas break, we texted each other a lot. When we came back for the Spring semester, things really started moving. The fact that she spent a lot of her break texting me back made me feel brave enough to start asking her to hang out more.

At MBU, around Valentine’s Day we have this pretty big dating outing (required attendance of course), called Artist Series. A professional musician puts on a formal concert on campus and you are encouraged to bring a date. I really wanted to ask Kaelyn. A friend of mine pushed me to ask her as soon as I could. He kept saying, “You just have to bite the bullet and ask her, before someone else does!”

I played volleyball most nights at MBU with friends. One Friday night, I invited Kaelyn to come in hopes that I might be able to ask her then. Now, I was no dummy, I messaged her friend, Amber, first to test the waters. Because our schedules didn’t intersect a ton. I’d have to purposely run into her in order to ask. Her friend thought Kaelyn would definitely be on board and agreed to help me coordinate a time when we could be alone. 

At a conservative Christian university, being alone, is pretty tricky. I mean, I wasn’t looking for a dark secluded place to make out or anything. I just wanted a moment to talk to her without the entire bustling campus listening on. Anyway, Amber and I decided that if I invited her to come play volleyball, I could ask her after. But Kaelyn was already looking forward to a movie night in the dorm, so she stayed in. Amber tried to convince her, but it didn’t work. I didn’t know this, but I guess Kaelyn caught onto Amber’s pushing and got tipped off that I wanted to ask her out. 

The race was still on! The next night after having dinner with her and her two friends, we all walked out to the parking lot. Suddenly, her friends disappeared. Immediately, my mouth dried up, my palms began to sweat, and all the words I ever knew vanished from my memory. I remember my friend’s words ringing in my ear, “bite the bullet.” So, bite the bullet I did. To my shock she said yes! 

I think the awko-convo went something like this:

T: “Ummm, would you like to go to Artist Series with me”

K: “Yea, I’d love to!”

T: “Okay”

K: “Yeah”

T: “Cool”

K: “Great”

T: “Alright, well, I better let you go, bye”

K: “Bye” 

She walked back to her dorm and I went to a music practice room. Once there, I practiced one of my voice pieces, “Vittoria, mio core,” which is Italian for Victory, my heart! Let’s just say, this little voice nerd had never sung that song better!

Just recently, she remembered that the next day, another guy asked her if she had a date for Artist Series. She wanted to go with me, but wasn’t sure if I would ask. If I hadn’t, she probably would’ve said yes to the other dude. Shew! That was close!

Our First Date

That night was a blur. Many of the details are lost to me, but I do remember how I felt: exhilarated, ecstatic, and… awkward. The anticipation of what would be my first and last first date was intense. My heart was beating out of my chest and my palms were sweating, again (sensing a theme here, yet?). I remember how beautiful Kaelyn was in her navy dress and soft curls. She was as sweet as strawberries and as radiant as the heavens. (She still is, by the way.)

The awkwardness didn’t have anything to do with Kaelyn. She was practically perfect in every way. It was just awkward because we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Our photos from that night are hilarious to look back on. We couldn’t put our arms around each other in a photo (Christian college probs), so we both stood there awkwardly with arms laying limply by our sides. Although we do have one photo where we stood in front of the platform and I rested my arm on the platform behind her to make it look like we were on a date. I know, sneaky. 

After the event, I think we went out to eat at a restaurant called the Pine Cone. This was a mainstay for MBU students. The restaurant was inside a truck stop (not too glamourous), but it was probably the furthest you could go from campus without needing to fill out a pass. Plus, they have some pretty good sweet treats, which Kaelyn & I are allll about! 

This night was the beginning of something absolutely amazing!

Ruthie & Jonah's Snowy Canterbury Shaker Village Engagement Session

Imagine. You wake up, look out the window, and see white in every direction. The ground is covered in a fresh blanket of snow, the air is full of fluffy white snowflakes floating down to the ground, and the sky is completely covered with snow-filled clouds. The only sounds you hear are the soft pit pat of snowflakes landing on the roof and the humming kshhhh of plow trucks clearing the roads. This was the winter wonderland we woke up to on the day of Ruthie & Jonah’s Engagement session!

It was quite the opposite of the day he proposed! Jonah actually gave me the honor of being present to capture their surprise proposal in Camden, ME! Click here to check our their proposal blog post! 

The day of their engagement session was the perfect day! The air was crisp and quiet as the world snuggled under the covers of white fluffy snow. Although the temperature was brisk, my heart warmed right up as soon as Jonah & Ruthie rolled into the parking lot of Canterbury Shaker Village with big youthful grins and hardy spirits ready to brave the elements!

These two have that best friend kind of love. The sparkle that fills her eyes when her eyes meet his. The childish excitement in their voices as they talk about getting married. Their playful banter. The tenderness of his hand on her back. These are the little ways their love shines through. 

Congratulations again, Jonah & Ruthie! I can’t wait for your wedding in July!

Ruthie & Jonah's Camden, ME Proposal

Anticipation and the smell of salt water wafted through the air on the dock. Their families waited with baited breath to congratulate them. Suddenly in a moment of release, the sound of cheering filled the cove as the happy couple came into view. After exchanging hugs, a few tears, and many gawking gazes at her sparkling diamond, everyone boarded the Perwinkle and leisurely laughed their way through the ocean waves to celebrate the future Mr. & Mrs.

Ruthie grew up in Camden with her family before moving to NH. So, it was fitting that Jonah surprised her here, on the very beach where she used to take elementary school trips. She thought he was at work, but he was in Camden, waiting on a quaint, idyllic beach overlooking the cove, with a blanket inscribed with their names & the date, a few framed photos of them through the years, shaking hands, sweaty palms, a boyish grin, and a glistening diamond. While I, not so gracefully, hid behind a thorn bush to capture the moment when he dropped to one knee. :)

How they chose to celebrate their engagement tells you a lot about them. Since they are at the center of two close-knit families, they spent the evening cruising the coast and eating their way through Camden with their parents and siblings. They probably would have invited all their family & friends if they could have. Because that’s just who they are- kind & loyal friends.

Ellie & Trevor's Fall Alton Bay Engagement Session

They say opposites attract, right? Ellie will soon take an oath to help and not harm, while Trevor has a license to kill! Don’t worry, he’s only after fish & game! They both love being outside taking in God’s creation, which fuels Trevor’s love for fishing, hunting, and anything else outdoors! Ellie has an interest in photography, so we decided that once they are married, she can become a wildlife photographer while going along on all Trevor’s hunting trips! Sounds like a perfect combo to me!!

Ellie would make the perfect Disney Princess with a kind nature, a quick wit, and a sense of grace to match. In fact, she reminded me a little of Kristen Bell, in the best way possible! Although I didn’t ask her to sing “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” (all you Frozen lovers now just what I’m talking about), I’m hopeful maybe she’ll break it out at their wedding reception! 

We could’ve walked around Alton Bay talking all evening. They are both the kind of people who just love people and have a heart to help others! After our son was born, Kaelyn & I gained a MUCH greater appreciation for nurses (more on that when we share Cal’s birth story). And, Ellie definitely seems like the type of person you want in the room when things go south! Ellie, whether you decide on labor & delivery, surgery or another specialty, the world is going to be a better place with you serving in our health care system!

Trevor, likewise, has a heart for serving people. He is currently working in sales for his future father-in-law’s business, Chapell Tractor. What I loved about his perspective on sales, is that he sees it as a way to genuinely help people. He’s not in it for the commission and you won’t see him sliding into your DM’s with a “Hey bro, how’s life,” sales-baiting message. No, he’s focused on building relationships with people, and being ready to jump in when he’s needed!

If you didn’t already pick up on it from his stylish watch, Trevor is a classy dresser. Naturally, he & I bonded over our love for JCrew (after all, half my outfit that day was JCrew), and Ellie & I bonded over photography and all the shades of blue they will have at the wedding! I mean, if you know me, you know that my blood is basically blue, so a wedding with lots of blue is definitely right up my alley!

Ellie & Trevor, thanks so much for an incredible session! I can’t wait to serve you on your wedding day at Timber Hill Farm in June!